1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the art of socket connectors and, more particularly, to a land grid array (LGA) socket to provide electrical connection between an LGA package and an electrical substrate, such as a printed circuit board (PCB).
2. Background of the Invention
Integrated circuit packages are generally classified as pin grid array (PGA) packages, ball grid array (BGA) packages and land grid array (LGA) packages depending on the shape of contacting section of the terminals. An integrated circuit package with conductive pads arranged on a bottom surface thereof in a land grid array is known as an LGA package.
Socket connectors for removably connecting an LGA package with a PCB are known as LGA sockets. Basically, an LGA socket includes a socket body and a plurality of terminals embedded in the socket body, a stiffener surrounding to the socket body, a load plate pivotably assembled on one end of the stiffener and a load lever pivotably attached to the other end of the stiffener. The stiffener is made of metal material, and the socket body is made of plastic material, the stiffener and the socket is linked by interference engagement. Each terminal has a contacting section and an opposite connecting section. Under compression, the contacting section of the terminal is resiliently deflected from its natural state and electrically registered with a conductive pad on the LGA package. The socket connector is mounted on the PCB, the LGA package is assembled on the upper surface of the socket body, then pressing the load plate on the LGA package and rotating the load lever for pressing the load plate on the LGA package. Thus, a flow of electrical signals is established between the LGA package and the PCB by the terminals in the socket body.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,189,093 issued to Hao-Yun Ma on Mar. 13, 2007 discloses a conventional socket connector. As the socket body and the stiffener is connected by interference engagement, the remand for dimension tolerance of the socket body and the stiffener is very high and it is not easy to control the interference engagement length between the socket body and the stiffener, the socket body will mismatch with the stiffener in this typical socket connector and connection between the socket body and the stiffener is unstable.
TW M279049 discloses another socket connector. The socket body defines a latch extending downward from the bottom surface of the socket body, the inner edges of the stiffener define a plurality of grooves for receiving the latch so that the socket body can be connected with the stiffener. However, the sidewalls of the socket body are adjacent to the inner edges of the stiffener, the swell factor of the socket body is bigger than that of the stiffener, so the socket body will be distortion as the socket body presses the stiffener when the socket connector is heated, then the connection between the LGA package and the PCB will be unstable.
Therefore, there is a heretofore-unaddressed need in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.